Tales from Facebook

Daniel Miller is Professor of Anthropology at University College London.

• Preface PART ONE - PORTRAITS 1) Marriage Dun Mash Up 2) Avatar 3) For Whom the Bell Doesn't Toll 4) The Book of Truth 5) It's Who You Know 6) Community 7) Time Suck 8) Cultivating FarmVille 9) It Was Just Sex 10) Getting the Word Out 11) Picking BlackBerrys 12) The History Woman Lagniappe The Philosophy of Doubles PART TWO - The Anthropology of Facebook A) The Invention of Fasbook. B) The Fame of Facebook. C) 15 theses on what Facebook might just be. Glossary and Acknowledgements

"It is Miller's focus on Trinidad and his beguilingly intimate style of writing that makes this work special. Prepare to have your expectations confounded."The Age"A very welcome and distinctive contribution to what is currently a small body of work on emerging online social networks."LSE Politics Blog"With social media playing an increasingly dominant role in our lives, it was about time somebody undertook a serious academic study of the way the Facebook phenomenon is changing and shaping behavior.... Whatever your feelings about the ever-present Facebook, Twitter etc., they are here to stay, so this book is an intriguing guide to as-yet uncharted territory."The Style King"Miller has written an insightful and engaging look at what Facebook has done to Trinidad and, more intriguingly, what Trinidad is doing to Facebook. For anyone keen to understand what human culture is becoming as the internet becomes its nearly universal vehicle, Tales from Facebook is obligatory reading."Julian Dibbell, contributing editor for Wired magazine and author of My Tiny Life and Play Money"Tales from Facebook is a genre-busting tour de force. Miller moves between fascinating stories of the often unexpected ways Trinidadians (for whom the verb 'to friend' is over a century old) use Facebook to thought-provoking discussions of the broad implications of social networking sites. Readers from a wide range of backgrounds will find this book an insightful treasure."Tom Boellstorff, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, and author of Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human